About Variables

Variables are brief, non-formatted pieces of text that you can use in your movies over and over. A variable has two main components—the variable name and the variable definition. When you insert a variable, the user sees the variable definition in the output. If you later need to modify the definition of a variable, you only need to change it in one place and the change is made automatically everywhere that the variable is inserted.

Collection Variables These are variables that you create for a specific collection in MadCap Mimic. A collection variable is available for all movies in that collection. See Creating Variables.

Movie Variables These are variables that you create for a specific movie in MadCap Mimic. A movie variable is available only for the movie for which it was created. See Creating Variables.

System Variables These are variables provided by MadCap Mimic, such as variables for your system date and time. Also provided are system variables designed to display specific information about your movies and the frames within them. For example, if you insert the system variable called "NextFrameName," the output will display the name of the next frame in the movie (as long as you have entered a name for it in the Frame Properties window pane).

Project Link Variables These are variables that were created in a MadCap Flare project, which has been linked to a MadCap Mimic movie or collection. Therefore, any variables in that Flare project can also be used in your MadCap Mimic movie or collection. See Linking to Flare Projects.

Following are the most common tasks associated with using variables in MadCap Mimic.

Creating Variables In MadCap Mimic, you can create variables for collections (in which case the variables are available to all movies within that collection) or for single movies (in which case the variables are available only for that movie). See Creating Variables.

Editing Variables After you create a variable, you can easily edit it in the Collection Editor or Movie Properties dialog (depending on whether you created the variable for a collection or a movie). If you change the definition for a variable that has already been inserted into objects, the changes will automatically be reflected wherever that variable has been inserted. See Editing Variables.

Inserting Variables into Objects After you create variables or link to existing variables in a MadCap Flare project, you can insert them into most objects that can be added to a frame (e.g., callouts, rectangles). See Inserting Variables into Objects.

Linking to Project Variables In addition to creating new variables within MadCap Mimic or using system variables, you can link to existing variables that were created in a MadCap Flare project. Therefore, any variables in that project can also be used in your movie(s). See Linking to Flare Projects.